REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Minister of Transportation Ignasius Jonan is expected to improve the transportation sector and carry forward the success he achieved in the railways when he was the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia's (KAI's) president director.
Djoko Seijowarno, a transportation observer Catholic University in Semarang, Central Java, stated in Jakarta on Wednesday that the success achieved in the development of the Indonesian railways when KAI was led by Jonan could be replicated in the transportation sector as he was now the minister of transportation.
"We hope that Pak (Mr) Jonan would inject the success he achieved in developing the railways to the transportation sector on land, in air, and the sea," Seijowarno noted.
He emphasized that sea transportation mode was the main mode of transportation that needed serious attention and improvement in Indonesia. Seijowarno remarked that the minister needed to develop and improve the bureaucracies in sea-related government agencies.
"All licensing processes with regard to sea transportation must be improved," he added.
Seijowarno stated that the day-to-day functioning and processes implemented by the Transportation Ministry, related to the maritime sector, in particular, should be transparent.
"The issuance of licensing must be transparent," he stressed.
He said that the sea transportation mode had yet to develop at par with the modes of land and air transportation.
Jonan was appointed as the president director of KAI Indonesia in 2009. He transformed the company's economic fortunes from losses worth 83.4 billion IDR in 2008 to generating profits of 153.8 billion IDR in 2009.
He has been named the best Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indonesia 2014 by the SWA business magazine for successfully bringing the state railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) back on track, from a loss-making firm to a profitable enterprise.
Some of his breakthroughs include the improvement in train services by the implementation of the electronic ticketing system and the sterilization of train stations from merchants and beggars, and making them clean and neat.
Jonan was awarded "The Best CEO of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN)" in 2013 by the State-owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan. On the same occasion, PT KAI was awarded the best state-owned enterprise in the public service category.